“One of the things about Herman Cain is, I think that he makes that white Republican base of the party feel okay, feel like they are not racist because they can like this guy,” Finney said. “I think he giving that base a free pass. And I think they like him because they think he’s a black man who knows his place. I know that’s harsh, but that’s how it sure seems to me.”

“Thank you for spelling that out,” Bashir responded.

Obviously Herman Cain doesn’t know “his place.” If he did he would be a Democrat.

Wouldn’t it be astonishing if Herman Cain became the Republican nominee? The general election would present voters with an unprecedented choice. One of the candidates would be a pro-business black conservative who, despite the occasional outburst of populist rhetoric, could never bring himself to challenge the Wall Street overlords who funded his campaign. And the other candidate would be Herman Cain.

Yeah, exactly. But success in and of itself is also suspect. I remember when the media used to examine the way the black community supported OJ Simpson after he was accused of murder, but lost interest before that when he lived in Brentwood and married a white woman.

Herman didn’t have any hesitation when it came to keeping barriers in place for others. Longtime lobbyist that he is, he’s largely responsible for the fact that workers in jobs in the restaurant business that involve tipping still make $2.13 an hour. As the daughter of a woman with a disability who made her living and destroyed her health working as a waitress, for peanuts, Herman is nothing but a POS, in my opinion.

He seems like your typical Reagan conservative pro big business type guy. I wouldn’t like his politics any more than the current Reagan conservative pro big business guy who occupies the whitehouse now. But “he’s largely responsible for the fact that…” is clearly hyperbole. If he’s that infinitely powerful, then he can certainly control the GOP party machine and ensure his own nomination. We’ll see.

This goes back to Herman Cain being the president of the National Restaurant Association. Yes, he did argue that tipping should be considered in a minimum wage. This had been part of wage laws for decades. Congress chose to agree with the entire restaurant industry and only change the tipped wage to $2.13 when minimum wage was $4.25. Since than, Congress has not changed the tipped wage while minimum wage went to $7.25, not due to Herman Cain.

I have to say, Martin Bashir is making Keith Olberman look positively sane.

Herman Cain ought to go on Martin’s show (like he did with Lawrence O’Donnell) and point out that Martin is the worst kind of racist – the one that comes to you saying ‘I’m here to help you’…

Martin’s OK with a black man having success, so long as the success was given to him by the Dems.

The whole Dem party IS FREAKING OUT at the idea that Herman Cain might be the Republican Nominee… Then, the Dem party might actually have to DO SOMETHING to get black votes, rather than just take the black vote for granted. Imagine that, they might have to actually have to answer for the higher black unemployment, and lower black education, and the failing family unit in black communities… you know, and write legislation and all that stuff.

What’s wrong Martin & Karen, his skin not black enough for you? What do you know about growing up black in the South – for that matter, what does Obama know about growing up black in the South? – yeah, there’s a questions you might want to start asking yourselves – I bet black people will be asking that question if Cain gets the nomination.